Abstract

Cetacean-watch tourism targets specific communities of animals that are repeatedly sought out for prolonged close-up encounters. There are concerns over the potential for detrimental consequences of this industry on targeted animals. A lack of detailed information gathered over suitable temporal scales has previously precluded impact assessments of biological relevance. However, emergent research indicates that cetacean-watch activities can cause biologically significant impacts. This was recently acknowledged by the International Whaling Commission's Scientific Committee (2006): "[t]here is new compelling evidence that the fitness of individual odontocetes repeatedly exposed to whale-watching vessel traffic can be compromised and that this can lead to population-level effects".